Douche-Bag of the Day Part 2!

I spoke to soon! Evidently there is a race going on to see who can be more douchey then the last douche!

In this corner we have Ms. Anne Applebaum (h/t Greenwald and Lawyers). Ms. Applebaum of the Washington Post penned a 4 paragraph piece in defense of Roman Polanski, here. I recommend reading it:

Of all nations, why was it Switzerland -- the country that traditionally guarded the secret bank accounts of international criminals and corrupt dictators -- that finally decided to arrest Roman Polanski? There must be some deeper story here, because by any reckoning the decision was bizarre -- though not nearly as bizarre as the fact that a U.S. judge wants to keep pursuing this case after so many decades.

Here are some of the facts: Polanski's crime -- statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl -- was committed in 1977. The girl, now 45, has said more than once that she forgives him, that she can live with the memory, that she does not want him to be put back in court or in jail, and that a new trial will hurt her husband and children. There is evidence of judicial misconduct in the original trial. There is evidence that Polanski did not know her real age. Polanski, who panicked and fled the U.S. during that trial, has been pursued by this case for 30 years, during which time he has never returned to America, has never returned to the United Kingdom., has avoided many other countries, and has never been convicted of anything else. He did commit a crime, but he has paid for the crime in many, many ways: In notoriety, in lawyers' fees, in professional stigma. He could not return to Los Angeles to receive his recent Oscar. He cannot visit Hollywood to direct or cast a film.

He can be blamed, it is true, for his original, panicky decision to flee. But for this decision I see mitigating circumstances, not least an understandable fear of irrational punishment. Polanski's mother died in Auschwitz. His father survived Mauthausen. He himself survived the Krakow ghetto, and later emigrated from communist Poland. His pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered in 1969 by the followers of Charles Manson, though for a time Polanski himself was a suspect.

I am certain there are many who will harrumph that, following this arrest, justice was done at last. But Polanski is 76. To put him on trial or keep him in jail does not serve society in general or his victim in particular. Nor does it prove the doggedness and earnestness of the American legal system. If he weren't famous, I bet no one would bother with him at all.

I think this is the first defense of pedophilia and rape combined ever. I was literally speechless.

Words fail in this sort of situation. The man admitted he raped a 13 year old girl. Admitted to giving her alcohol and drugs. Then fled from his incarceration. I say admitted, he pled guilty.

This is simply beyond the pale. But wait it gets better. After being excoriated by the masses at large Ms. Applebaum had response which is here. But I found this bit of it the most mind numbingly myopic part of it:

Of course, there were some very legitimate disagreements, including two excellent ones from my colleagues Gene Robinson and Richard Cohen, and I take some of their points. But to them, and to all who imagine that the original incident at the heart of this story was a straightforward and simple criminal case, I recommend reading the transcript of the victim's testimony (here in two parts) -- including her descriptions of the telephone conversation she had with her mother from Polanski's house, asking permission to be photographed in Jack Nicholson's jacuzzi -- and not just the salacious bits.

I think pretty clearly Ms. Applebaum is blaming the victim.

But there is one thing I do agree with Ms. Applebaum on. If he were not famous, Polanski would have been treated differently. He would have been tossed in jail and would not have had the chance to flee the country.

-Cheers